We have a 1st grader in the house!

Allie starting 1st grade this week.  Her teacher is Mrs. Johnston, and there are 28 children in her class.  WOW...that's a big class.  She has had a great first week of school.  She is definitely tired at night and is in bed at 8pm and then up at 6:30am.  That also means, I am now up at 6:30, which I definitely need an alarm for.  Here are a few pictures from her 1st day of school.

Hunter giving Allie a BIG good-bye hug before she leaves.  I definitely think he's very happy to see her in the afternoon.

Allie is a walker.  It takes about 13 or so minutes to walk from our house to school

Allie's table and her teacher

Our sweet little girl is really growing up so fast. 

1st grade 2012-2013

Rehoboth Beach, 2012

We all love the beach!  The kids love the ocean and sand, and Brian and I love to sit and relax.  We actually got to do a little of that this year with Hunter being a little older and having friends at the beach to play with.  We went with our friends the Rosensweig's this year.  Their son Josh and Allie are the same age and their daughter Emery is 3.  We went to the beach, ate great food, went to the boardwalk, to Funland, or back on the beach in the evenings. 

Hunter ready to take on the waves!

Allie riding her boggy board

Hunter's 1st day playing in the sand

Sky got to enjoy the beach in the evening

Only took 2 pictures to get all 4 kids looking at the camera...Amazing :)

Throwing football into the ocean

Funland

The last day Hunter was riding the waves

  

 

Last day on the beach....can't wait til' next summer

Bonjour, Paris!

Wow!  Brian and I have been married now 10 years!  We celebrated our anniversary, by going back to were he proposed....Paris, France!  In Nov. 2001, Brian and I went on a trip over Thanksgiving break and for my birthday to Paris.  I was so clueless that he was going to propose while we were there.  When we arrived in Paris in 2001, we had lunch at this little cafe which was across the street from Notre Dame.  After lunch, went starting sight seeing and Notre Dame was our first stop, where is proposed almost 11 years ago.  

For our 10 year anniversary, he surprised me with tickets back to Paris.  We stayed in the same hotel as before, and even ate at the same little cafe.  We had such a great trip this time around.  We, of course went back to Norte Dame, and did lots more sightseeing around Paris on the first day.  We stayed busy, trying to stay awake, so we could handle the time change for the rest of the trip.  

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Us on the tour bus, where we could hop on and off at various stops. 

Cafe we ate at right before Brian proposed in 2001.  

Smallest Elevator ever.  Only our 2 bags and me fit in and that was a tight squeeze!  

The 2nd day, we took a fun cooking class with a french chef.  We walked the streets of Paris, going to several markets to buy our food.  We went to a cheese, bread, fish and fruit and veggie market.  After walking the streets of Paris to buy all we needed to make our meal, we cooked and then had a very nice lunch.  That evening we went to a very nice dinner and to see a Moulin Rouge show. 

 

Happy 10 years! 

The 3rd day we were there, we rented a car and drove to the Battle of Normandy area.  A beautiful beach area with so much history behind the places we went to.  We had time to visit the Gold Beach where the Canadians stormed the beaches, bunkers with guns still in place, and to Ohama Beach, where the United States stormed the beaches and many lives where lost.  We went to the cemetery on Ohama Beach were over 9000 men are buried and also to the US museum.

Gold Beach - still cement barriers out in the ocean

Ohama Cemetery

Lynchburg, VA newsletter in Paris, France.  Talking about the Bedford, VA memorial.

The last day we relaxed, read in a little park that was beside the Seine River and just enjoyed our day, after 3 fun and busy days.  Before we headed to our hotel for the last night, we placed a small lock on done of the bridges that crosses from Notre Dame over to Seine River.  There were thousands of locks attached to this bridge and one lady told me it was showing a "lock of love."  So, we bought one and wrote our initials and 10 years on it.  Who knows, maybe one day Allie or Hunter will do to Paris and find our lock on the bridge.  

 

 

Amazing 10 years full of laughter, love, friendship and 2 beautiful children. I am one lucky girl.